There have been some illustrious and surprising names who have won the prestigious individual accolade

Ronaldo and Messi have dominated the Ballon d’Or award for the last 8 years

One of the most prestigious individual awards in football, the Ballon d’Or award is an annual association award founded by France Football in 1956 by Sports writer Gabriel Hanot. Also known as the European Football Player of the Year, the Ballon d’Or award was initially restricted to only European footballers till 1995. However, from 1995 all players playing in European clubs were eligible.

Initially, the award was decided by votes from a select group of European journalists, however, in 2007 it was amended to include the votes of players and journalists all over the world. It was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year in 2009 and called the FIFA Ballon d’Or awarded till 2015.

However, since the Ballon d’Or award is not part of FIFA anymore, there are two award galas to look forward to with Ballon d’Or being conducted by France Football and FIFA awarding the “Best Player of the Year” awards.

This split means that the Ballon d’Or will once again be controlled by the French publication, and voting will be reserved exclusively for journalists in Europe, thereby returning to its initial format while the FIFA Best Player of the Year will be decided by votes from national team coaches, captains, players and fans.